**************************************DOWNTON ABBEY S4 SPOILER ALERT!*******************************
If you were triggered or upset by S4 E3 (in the UK) S4 E2 (US),
this blog can help with validation of those difficult emotions.
This is a compilation of posts and articles decrying the plot turn we hated.

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

"I initially felt that the fans were over-reacting. I felt this episode was akin to an All in the Family episode where Edith Bunker was raped.
I felt Downton Abbey had been shocking but I didn't think the episode
went to far, especially in an age where brutal, gorey murder and the
resulting autopsies are a nightly television staple and Law and Order SVU has shown much worse. It never dawned on me until just now that Edith managed to escape her attacker.

"The show pulled in 8.8 million viewers -
down 400,000 on the previous week - and many registered their distress
at the horrific scene on the internet.Viewer Francesca Williams
wrote: "Why is there a rape scene on my television? This is horrible.
Definitely not watching 'Downton Abbey' again. (sic)"Bidisha
said: "What is it with male writers scribbling in a quick rape of a
woman to spice things up? ITV/'Downton' raped a woman and can never take
it back."

From http://ueafeminism.wordpress.com:

"Various cast members were quoted as saying it was a “bold” and
“shocking” move so I don’t see how they can argue their primary intent
was to promote sensible discussion about rape and victim blaming. I also
*hate* that they think the parts they showed (the assault prior to Anna
Bates being dragged off) and her screams didn’t count as part of the
rape. Their line in the letter was that “the rape itself was not
depicted on screen whatsoever” but if Anna were a real person who was
agonising over her rape, she would undoubtedly think of the rape as
starting at the point when she realised he wasn’t going to let her get
away and when he forcibly applied his lips to her face. Argh!"

From the blog A Hat Full of Ness:

"Further to the post I wrote earlier this week about the Downton Abbey
Rape Storyline, I contacted ITV and Ofcom and have received a response
from ITV. I will not say apology because it is the worst excuse for an
apology I have seen in a long time! I am absolutely furious! And in the
middle of composing a scathing email in response. I thought I would
share their response with you here, because I have had a number of hits
looking for “Downton Abbey rape” so I know there are people out there
who are concerned and likely upset by it. I know I am."

"Favourite telly programmes are hard to leave. But then someone is raped in Downton Abbey.
A show you adore. Have always adored. A show that is the balm to the
end of your rashy week. A sorbet between busy weeks. I cannot see the
reasoning behind it."

"ITV’s craven ratings chasers can defend Downton Abbey’s
gratuitous rape scene all they like. But the viewers hated it. One
minute the drama revolved around Mrs Patmore’s troublesome chilled soup,
the next Anna Bates was being sexually assaulted by a bloke from
EastEnders. Jarring, horrible and unnecessary."

"Earlier this year,
Vulture writer Margaret Lyons wrote about the difficulty of finding a
television show without rape or murder. She could only count 16
trauma-free series. SIXTEEN. (For the record, a third of those shows
have since been canceled, and “Downton Abbey”
has joined the Gratuitous Rape & Murder Club.) She also found that
constant exposure to rape and murder made her even more sensitive to
them. It’s made me more sensitive to them as well, especially as a
parent."

"Although I don’t want to assume that everything will take a turn for the
horrible, there’s a lot of potential for the story to put Bates
front-and-center from now on. We could see Bates as he tracks down the
valet. Bates as he attacks him. Bates held back by a pleading Anna, or
Bates arrested for murder. Although I wouldn’t mind a Bates-less show,
this cannot be Bates’ story, and any further movement in their
direction, or any suggestion that his violent reaction is anything other
than unreasonable selfishness, threatens to mar an otherwise excellent
season."

"While the rape of any character is reprehensible, the choice
of who it is in this instance makes it obvious that this was not done
for any other reason than to add further drama into a relationship that
has been rocky from the start. This isn’t Tess, and it isn’t Daniel Deronda, and
the audience doesn’t want it to be. From the beginning, we’ve taken joy
in an Edwardian soap opera with a small amount of angst on the side...But judging from the battered face, torn dress, and bleeding lip of a beloved character, Downton Abbey
is either asking us to address something we may not want to talk about
(and that it may be unqualified to address) … or it’s made a very
serious misstep."

"Domestic
violence campaigners accused show of being irresponsible. They said
any victims of sexual assault could have been traumatised after
watching scene. During the episode servant Anna Bates was beaten and
raped by valet Mr Green played by former Eastenders actor Nigel
Harman."

Monday, December 30, 2013

"The problem is if writers have used the assault purely to shock and up
the ratings. A Downton Abbey spokesman has said: ‘The events in episode
three were, we believe, acted and directed with great sensitivity’ and
‘Viewers will see in the forthcoming episodes how Anna and Bates
struggle to come to terms with what has happened.’

"Although the episode was shown after the 9pm, many viewers felt the scene was inappropriate for a family drama.Sabine Edwards tweeted that she felt "sick", adding: "Rape & violence against women are not entertainment tactics."Vivienne Adams added: "I am v uncomfortable with plot turn by Julian F -- rape as entertainment."Another
said: "I realise that Downton Abbey is essentially just a big soap
opera, but I absolutely hate when rape is used as a plot device.'"

A spokesman for Downton Abbey defended the storyline, saying: “The
complex and loving journey of Anna and Bates has been central to the
narrative of the show. The events in episode three were, we believe,
acted and directed with great sensitivity. Viewers will see in the
forthcoming episodes how Anna and Bates struggle to come to terms with
what has happened.”

From The Guardian:"The fact that [viewers] engage with it is sort of what you pray for as a
programme-maker, because with most series that's not happening. It's
always a compliment that everyone gets so involved in the show."

"Remember how we were promised a storyline that was “emotionally
beautiful” and “empowering for other survivors,” and we never got that?
It was never about Anna. The purpose of her rape was a.) shocking plot
twist!, and b.) let’s give her husband more manly manly manpain,"

"Although the attack was not shown, viewers could hear Green hitting
Anna before she emerged later with cuts and bruises to her face.
Afterwards the traumatized maid was seen cowering and sobbing in a
corner. ‘What we wanted to do was to try and not signal about what was
to come. We went for something as it would be in real life that was very shocking,’”

"There was no acknowledgement of what Anna went though in S4, except
from Mrs. Hughes, and not to Anna, but to Mary. Fellowes, as I’ve said, did not handle it well, and now it’s swept it under the rug… like I thought it would. So in the end it was a bunch of shock value,”

"Woman gets raped, husband kills rapist, everyone agrees husband is
still a jolly good bloke anyway, couple enjoy a penny lick on the beach
and everyone is happy again. It felt like a disservice to the serious and important subject - and some brilliant performances from Joanne Froggatt - for this story to come together so neatly and briskly,”

"I would just like to understand how Julian Fellowes writes an episode and Anna gets raped, he says it’ll be handled beautifully, makes it a story about vengeance and murder, and, somehow…Anna ends up being the 4th most important character in her own horrible rape storyline,”

"When a person is violently assaulted, the place where their assault
happened becomes strongly associated with the assault and the resulting
trauma. Anna was raped and thrown on a table edge in the boot room..."

Downton
Abbey is rolling out the merchandise just in time for the holidays, and
before we find out in the Christmas Special if Bates killed. It’s
another installment of Did Bates Kill?

The cliffhanger is hanging on a plot generated by a brutal rape scene, which the writer said was done to “Explore the damage”.

He has given the character four lines in eight shows to talk about her “damage”. This is not exploration.

This is exploitation.

Dollars generated from merchandise will not be directly funding an official approval of rape, or even just the rape plot line. This is the fourth
season and there are lots of stories that have delighted people and will
inspire them to fork over. I wish them well.

“It was too much to hope that he’d ... make Anna the focal point of the story, that
Bates’ involvement would be on the side of helping her to overcome her
ordeal…I could have tried to accept the fact that he’d tried to
highlight a sensitive issue or whatever. But the way things
played out made it very clear to me that he’d only done it for the
shock, and that the aftermath just wasn’t important to him,”

Fictional rape has the distinct ability to be dealt with in a positive and empowering manner, Neither “Scandal” or “Downton,” however, even closely enlisted advocacy in their depictions of sexual violence.

"We have EVERY right to be raging and upset by what Fellowes did to
Anna this season. Her rape was used as entertainment fodder, something
to juice up the plot, used to sensationalize and jump start ratings. The
storyline overall was handled EXTREMELY poorly, and Fellowes had no
business including it,"

"…life
at Downton during the fourth series…has been more than a little dreary,
apart from a visit from a world-famous opera singer and a rape below
stairs. But never mind, eh, victim Anna was taken out for a nice dinner at a posh restaurant to make up for it, so that’s all right then,”

"More injurious still was that the rape was presented as the punch line to an episode-long set-up.
From the moment the continuity announcer prefaced this week’s Downton
Abbey with the promise of violent scenes, the guessing game fun began.
Would we see Molesley mowed down by the Bakewell’s delivery van? Jimmy
perish from jam jar injury-related complications? Daisy finally stave in
Ivy’s pretty head with that rolling pin? Wrong, wrong and wrong again. It was a rape! Bet you didn’t see that coming. Not thinking of switching over to Homeland now are you?”

Jane Graham liked it. “If (Julian Fellowes) hoped to make a point
about the dangers of consensus complacency, or how suddenly and cruelly
life can snap a bite out of us, he must be feeling rather chuffed with
himself now,”

"So writers, listen up: rape is not a plot device to make female
characters more interesting. It is not trivial. If your show is about
things that are trivial, on the whole, then a plot line about rape is
not appropriate,"

Bidisha did not: “If you’re a bored man who writes for the TV,
include the rape of a woman in your script. It will excite actors and
invigorate the show. What a buzz: setting up a brutalised woman and
worming around in her pain,”